Crucifixion | He Bids Them Come

Hi all. We are continuing the story of Easter today. Today’s story can be found in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19.

Today is called Good Friday, though the story seems very very sad.

Jesus had been arrested because the leaders didn’t like how much the people liked Jesus. They were scared He would try to be more important than them. They took Him to the Israelite leaders and the Roman leaders and nobody could really decide what to do with Him.

Some of the leaders didn’t like that He said He was God’s son (even though He was.) Some of the leaders didn’t like how powerful He was (but remember, God can do ANYTHING!) Some of the leaders didn’t like how much the people loved Him (and how much HE loved them!!)

It was very confusing. Some of the leaders didn’t see any reason Jesus should die…but some of the others finally got the crowd all worked up and soon the people were yelling for Jesus to die.

(*parents of small children can edit this as needed) They hurt Him. They hit Him with sticks, they spit on Him, they took off His clothes and smacked Him with sharp thorny sticks. It was very very ouchy. But Jesus knew it had to happen. They made a crown from some thorns and put it on His head and laughed and laughed and said “HA! HERE’S YOUR ‘KING!'” They were making fun of Jesus. Finally, they got two big BIG pieces of wood and nailed and tied them together to make a cross. They made Jesus carry that big cross all through the streets. Some of the people in the streets (like the disciples and Jesus’ mom Mary) cried, because they loved Jesus, but most of the people were saying terrible things and were very mean to Him.

Finally, He went up a big hill and they put the cross in the ground standing up. Then they took nails and hammered through His hands into the wood (OUCH!) and they hammered His feet into the wood too. (OUCH!)

Some of the people laughed at Jesus and said, “If you are REALLY God’s son, you’d have enough power to get down off that cross!”

And that was true. Jesus DID have enough power to get off the cross. He could have asked for help from God, or for angels to help, or He could have just walked away, but He didn’t.

While He was on the cross, God put all our bad choices (sin) on Jesus. He felt all the pain and consequences for our choices. He did that so WE don’t have to. Jesus asked God to forgive us. You, your mom, your dad, your grandma, your cousins, His disciples, the Pharisees, “bad guys”…everyone. There were two other people who HAD made bad choices who were also dying on crosses on either side of Jesus. One of them laughed at Jesus, but the other asked Jesus to forgive him. And even though he was about to die, Jesus said, “Yes! I WILL forgive you. Today when you die, you will be with Me in heaven.” (It’s NEVER too late to choose Jesus!)

And the saddest part was, when He was taking our sin, God couldn’t even look at Him. (Because God is perfect, He can’t be around nasty sin…so He couldn’t be near Jesus) and that’s the worst thing…to be apart from God. God is all goodness and love so to apart from God is not feel any goodness, any love or any happiness. Our bad sin keeps us AWAY from God forever. But Jesus took that FOR US on the cross, so our sin doesn’t have to keep us away from God! We CAN live with Him in perfectness forever in heaven, because we are FORGIVEN by God…because Jesus took all that punishment, all those consequences FOR US. THAT is why it is GOOD Friday.

The sky got dark, there was thunder and lightning and an earthquake. God was mad. Do you know why? He was mad that Jesus was in so much pain. Do you know it makes your mom and dad very sad when you get hurt? And if they see someone hurt you it makes them mad. Because they love you! and they want everyone to be nice to you! When someone is mean to you, it makes them angry. God was angry that His son was so sad and in so much pain.

But an amazing thing happened. In the temple (the church) there was a big front room where everyone prayed. Then behind a GIANT curtain was a thing called the Ark of the Covenant (a special box where God’s Spirit was). When Jesus died, that curtain tore into 2 pieces, top to bottom and it was God saying “My Spirit will now live in EVERYONE who loves Me. Not just in the temple, but in everyone’s heart who loves Me and chooses Me.”

Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said “It is finished.” Then He died.

He meant His work of taking our sins was finished. He took it all. Every bad thing you can ever think of, Jesus died for that. It is forgiven if we just ask and decide we want Jesus to be OUR King. (1 John 1:9, John 3:16-17, Isaiah 53:3-5, Romans 5:6-10, Romans 3:22-24, 1 Peter 2:24).

You can talk with your parents/grandparents/pastor about this story and what it means to you. Maybe you’re ready to say “Thank you Jesus for dying for me! Please forgive my sins and be my King.”

We made cardboard crosses today, but mostly the discussion was our focus.

Thanks for joining us. Can’t wait for SUNDAY!! Happy Easter-love to you all!

Easter Take 2 (Part 2)

Jesus Arrested Matthew 26; Luke 22 After Jesus had supper with His disciples, He sent Judas away to do what he had planned to do (bring the leaders to Jesus so they could capture Him.) The leaders wanted to capture Jesus and kill Him because they didn’t like Him. They were jealous of how much the people liked Jesus and they were worried He would try to be king above them. Jesus told His disciples He wanted to pray, so they went out and Jesus asked His disciples to wait for Him while He talked to God. Jesus knew what was about to happen and He asked God if there was ANY other way to do it. He knew He was about to die for our sins…and that it would not be easy or happy. But God said…it has to be this way. When Jesus was done talking to God, He went back and found all the disciples sleeping. He told them they should also get up and talk to God…because what was about to happen was going to be REALLY sad and they all needed God’s strength. Then, Judas came back with the leaders who didn’t like Jesus. Judas walked up to Jesus and kissed Him (this was the special signal they had worked out.) Then the guards knew whom to take. They arrested Jesus and His disciples said, “should we fight?!” But Jesus told them to put down their swords. He knew if He wanted to, He could call a whole bunch of angels to come and help Him…but He was obeying His Father, God. Discussion: Why did the leaders want to capture Jesus? How did Jesus feel when He was praying? Why didn’t Jesus try to get away? Talk about how sometimes it seems like God has weird plans…things we don’t understand. But no matter what, we have to trust Him…like Jesus did.

Jesus on the Cross/Good Friday Matthew 27; Luke 23; John 18-19 After Jesus was arrested, Judas (who had betrayed Jesus) was very VERY sorry for what he had done. Most of the disciples were scared and ran away, but a couple stayed nearby and watched to see what would happen to Jesus. The guards took Jesus before the Roman Governor (like a president), named Pilate, and said “here He is! He says He is God’s son! And He’s been causing trouble!” Pilate said, “well…ARE you the King? Are you here to save these people?” “I am” Jesus said. Then Pilate sent Jesus to another leader, named Herod. He was in charge of all the Jewish people (like Jesus). Herod had heard a lot about Jesus and he wanted to see Jesus do some cool miracles. But Jesus remained silent. So Herod and his men started being mean to Jesus. They said mean things and hurt him and then they sent Him back to Pilate. Pilate said, “I can’t find anything wrong with this man. You don’t like Him…but He’s not a bad guy. Herod even sent Him back…so…I have to let Him go.” The people did not like that. The leaders wanted Jesus to die because they were jealous of how much the people liked Him and they worried Jesus would try to take over as ruler. The people were now upset because they WANTED Jesus to be their king…but Jesus never came to earth to be a king…He is king in our hearts and He made and rules over everything…but He never meant to be a king on earth. So now all the people were mad and they yelled and said “you must kill Jesus!” Pilate didn’t want to argue anymore…so he had Jesus taken away to die. The guards there were even more mean to Jesus. They hurt Him and put a painful crown made of sharp thorns on His head. Then they made a cross (like a letter T) out of two BIG pieces of wood and they made Jesus carry it on His back all through the town and up to a hill. They put the cross up on the hill and there were two other “bad guys” who had to die that die because they had made some very very bad choices. Their crosses were put up on either side of Jesus. They took nails and put them through Jesus’ hands into the cross so He was hanging there on those pieces of wood. There were many people there who were glad Jesus was dying…but there were also some who believed in Jesus and they were very sad to see Jesus on the cross. One of the men on the other crosses also believed in Jesus and asked Jesus to forgive him for his bad choices. Jesus said yes, He would forgive the man; and because the man believed in Jesus, that when he died that day, he would get to live in heaven with Jesus forever. The most important part about this day is what happened to Jesus on the cross. God put all the bad choices (sins) of all the people (even you!) on Jesus that day. Jesus was perfect…He is God and God’s son and so He NEVER sins. Sin is anything not perfect, so Jesus had to separate from God to take all the not perfect things on Himself. This meant He was apart from God on the cross. That was the saddest part for Jesus. BUT, because He obeyed God and took all our bad things on Himself, then when God sees us…He no longer sees those yucky things…He only sees perfect, beautiful Jesus. If we believe in Jesus and that He died for us, then God forgives us for our bad choices…because Jesus took them for us. When Jesus had taken all our sins on Himself, He asked God to forgive the people (and us) and then He died. The sky became dark and there was an earthquake and it shook the temple (the church) and God tore open the big curtain that was inside. The curtain used to separate the front and back parts of the church and only one man, one time a year could go to the back part of the church to talk right to God. We used to be apart from God, never being good enough to live with Him in heaven…(like the curtain separated the front and back parts of the church), but since Jesus died for us, now we can be forgiven and live with God forever. Then some of the people who still loved Jesus, took his body, wrapped it up and put his body in a tomb or grave (like a cave). They put a gigantic stone in front of the entrance so nobody could do inside. The leaders were worried about something happening, so they made guards stand in front of the tomb day and night. Discussion: What did the people do to Jesus? Why did Jesus have to die? Activities:

Write Jesus a thank you note
If you have resurrection eggs…you can talk through them with your child(ren) and let them tell you what they remember of the story

Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Easter-Egg-Set-Resurrection-Religious/dp/1602003920

We made these scenes of the cross. Paint and cutting some strips of black paper and gluing them to show a simple picture of what happened that day.

He’s ALIVE! Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20 On Sunday, after Jesus had died, some of the women who loved Jesus went to the place where His body was buried (they were going to put some oil and smelly-good spices on his body). That morning, there was another earthquake. An angel from God rolled away the stone and sat on top of it. The guards were so scared they fell down and passed out. When the women came to visit Jesus they were also scared of the angel but he said, “don’t be afraid. Why are you here? Jesus isn’t here!? He’s ALIVE! See? Just like He said…He’s alive! Now go tell the disciples!” Jesus not only died for our sins…but He didn’t stay dead! That shows us that Jesus has power over sin, and death and life…and eternal (or forever) death and life. He didn’t just die…He lived again. And because He lives, that means He has the power to let us LIVE forever too! There is NOTHING God can not do! Discussion: What happened on Sunday after Jesus had died? What does it mean that Jesus didn’t stay dead? How does that make you feel? What do you think of this story? Activities:

Resurrection rolls (found here): http://www.lifeway.com/kidsministry/2014/03/31/easter-recipe-resurrection-rolls/
We will be making roll away tombs. Draw the tomb on a piece of paper. Cut two slits next to the tomb. Cut out a circle stone and attach a long strip of heavy paper or card stock to the circle. Feed the long strip though the slits in the paper so that the stone can slide in front and away from the tomb.

3. We also made a resurrection cake: (use a cookie cutter to cut a hole in the middle for the empty tomb then frost over the top) When you cut into it, it reveals an empty middle.